Good Food From Sweden

If you are looking for great new food coming out of Scandinavia, this is not the book for you. This book is full of the classics of Swedish cooking as it was practiced back in 1939. It's a modern enough cookbook in the sense that the recipes are easy to read and understand. They list the ingredients, US measurements, up at the top before describing the preparation. It's a recipe book without a lot of narrative and back story, so it's old fashioned that way.

There's food plain and fancy. You have a choice of lobster dishes for your smorgasbord or you can serve something simple like buttered bread with anchovies. Swedish cooking has a lot of relatively simple dishes, and this cookbook offers many, but there's also party food. There are all kinds of soups and a lot of fish dishes. We haven't tried any of the recipes, but they all look credible. Right now, we're intrigued by the recipe for a sort of shepherd's pie made with dry smoked salmon and potatoes. It's familiar, but not like anything we've already eaten. (Kaleberg)